Cognitive Development in the First Two Years: Sensorimotor Intelligence and Memory

1. The Developing Person Through the Life Span 8e by Kathleen Stassen Berger Chapter 6- The First Two Years: Cognitive Development PowerPoint Slidesdeveloped by Martin Wolfger and Michael James Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington Reviewed by Raquel Henry Lone Star College, Kingwood

2. Sensorimotor Intelligence • Piaget’s term for the way infants think—by using their senses and motor skills—during the first period of cognitive development. • Begins at birth and ends at about 24 months

3. Primary Circular Reactions • The first of three types of feedback loops in sensorimotor intelligence • Involves the infant’s responses to its body • Stage 1: stage of reflexes (i.e. sucking) • Stage 2: stage of first habits (i.e. grabbing a bottle to suck it)

4. Secondary Circular Reactions • The second type of feedback loop • Involves responses to people and objects • Stage 3: making interesting events last • i.e. clapping hands when told to • Stage 4: new adaptation and anticipation • i.e. putting mother’s hands together in order to make her start playing patty-cake

5. Secondary Circular Reactions • Object permanence: the realization that objects (including people) still exist when they can no longer be seen, touched, or hear.

6. Tertiary Circular Reactions • The third type of feedback loop • Active exploration and experimentation

7. Tertiary Circular Reactions • Stage 5: new means through active experimentation • “Little scientist” active and creative exploration using trial and error • Stage 6: anticipate and solve problems by using mental combinations • Deferred Imitation: when infants copy behavior they noticed hours or days earlier

8. Sensorimotor Intelligence

9. Piaget and Modern Research Habituation • The process of getting used to an object or event through repeated exposure to it • Evidence of habituation is loss of interest • By using habituation and then introducing a new stimulus, we can find more of what babies know and learn

10. Measuring the Brain • Brain research shows that babies can think before they can talk • Techniques Used to Study the Brain: • fMRI: used to locate neurological responses to stimuli • EEG: measures electric activity in cortex • ERP (event related potential): notes amplitude and frequency of electrical activity • PET: like fMRI but requires injection of dye

11. Information Processing Information-processing Theory • Modeled on computer functioning • Information-processing theorists believe that a step-by-step description of the mechanisms of thought adds insight to our understanding of cognition at every age. • Contrast with Piaget’s stages

12. Affordances • The environment affords opportunities for interactions with what is perceived

13. Affordances • The visual cliff was designed to provide the illusion of a sudden drop-off between one horizontal surface and another. • Mothers were able to urge their 6-month-olds to wiggle forward over the “cliff”, but 10-month-olds fearfully refused.

14. Movement and People • Dynamic Perception: focuses on movement and change • Babies work to master the next motor skill • People Preference: an innate attraction to other humans • Babies recognize regular caregivers and expect certain affordances from them (i.e. comfort, food, etc.)

15. Memory Early Memory • According to classic developmental theory, infants store no memories in their first year. • Developmentalists now agree that very young infants can remember if the following conditions are met: • Experimental conditions are similar to real life. • Motivation is high. • Special measures aid memory retrieval.

16. Reminders and Repetition • Rovee-Collier found that infants could remember after 2 weeks if they had a reminder session • any experience that helps one remember an event, thing or idea • Repeated reminders (repetition) are better than single reminders

17. Aspects of Memory • Implicit Memory: remains hidden until a stimulus brings it to mind • stored via habits, emotional responses, etc. • Explicit Memory: can be recalled on demand, usually with words • consciously learned words, data & concepts

18. The Universal Sequence • Child-directed speech: the high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive way adults speak to infants (called baby talkor motherese) • Babbling: the extended repetition of certain syllables, such as ba-ba-ba, that begins when babies are between 6 and 9 months old

19. First Words • At about 1 year, babies speak a few words. • Spoken vocabulary increases gradually (about one or two new words a week). • Holophrase-A single word that is used to express a complete, meaningful thought. • All new talkers say names and utter holophrases.

20. First Words • Naming explosion- A sudden increase in an infant’s vocabulary, especially in the number of nouns, that begins at about 18 months of age.

21. Cultural Differences • Some cultures do not value verbal fluency so speak to their children less • i.e. Otavalos of Ecuador • Infants differ in their use of various parts of speech, depending on the language they are learning • e.g. more nouns and fewer verbs.

22. Putting Words Together • Grammar includes all the devices by which words communicate meaning:sequence, prefixes, suffixes, intonation, loudness, verb forms, pronouns, negations, prepositions, and articles. • Worldwide, people who are not yet 2 years old already use language well.

23. Theories of Language Learning Theory One: Infants Need to Be Taught • B. F. Skinner (1957) noticed that spontaneous babbling is usually reinforced. • Parents are expert teachers. • Frequent repetition of words is instructive, especially when linked to daily life. • Well-taught infants become well-spoken children.

24. Theories of Language Learning Theory Two: Social-pragmatic • Infants communicate in every way they can because humans are social beings. • Early communication focuses on the emotional messages of speech and not the words

25. Theories of Language Learning Theory Three: Infants Teach Themselves • Language acquisition device (LAD)- Chomsky’s term for a hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation.

26. Theories of Language Learning A Hybrid Theory: • Some aspects of language may be explained by one theory at one age and another theory at another age • How language is learned depends on the age of the child as well as on the particular circumstances